Database: Iowa students borrow billions from federal government

Students at Iowa's public and private four-year colleges and universities borrowed nearly $2.5 billion from the
William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program from 2011-12 through 2016-17, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid. The following shows the Direct Subsidized Loans (the government pays the loan's interest while the borrower is in college) and Direct Unsubsidized Loans (the borrower pays all the interest) disbursed to Iowa college students, average loan amounts and percentage of students who received the loans.

Sources: Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education and College Insight